A couple guys use NH3 around here, more use 32% or 28%, and quite a few are hiring dry urea spun on.

Urea can sometimes get caught in the leaf whorl, dissipate if no rain, and depending on the unit/applicator even spread in taller corn can be questionable.

I use 32%. Safe to handle, safer on crop, even spread. Sure the occasional leaky hose can lead to leaf burn but the corn will grow out of it.

NH3 has its set of issues that steer me from it. First pulling an applicator and tank through the field lead to multiple sets of tracks, and more end row damage. Dry conditions can lead to root burn in the corn. A leaky hose and lifting on the ends are going to lead to leaf burn more severe than 32%, but should grow out of it. Its the least safe product to handle, but that doesn't bother me as long as you pay attention and respect it you will be fine.

Not saying it doesn't work well, just not my preferred option. I can see why you are wanting to move from the drop tubes to an in furrow setup, I think that is a smart move regardless of product.

 

Here its such a pain dealing with 28%, nearly impossible to get 32% and I pay alot of shipping, no one keeps any on hand and I like to roll as weather points me in that direction but it's been proving very tricky for me to accomplish this as the sprayer is busy with other stuff and my storage is tied up with water

NH3 on the other hand is everywhere, 4 different locations for me to chose from not to far away, I already have 6 tanks and since I would be the only one messing with this in the area one of my suppliers has rental tanks I could use at my disposal, so I could line up tanks ahead of time next to each field

I have seen some of these set up as 23 openers and some with 12. Does root burn become a problem with only 12? Probably will be running between 80-140# of N.

I have 24 openers from the drill and a Hiniker rate controller with a cold flow.

I wonder if I should mount a set of closing wheels or at least one to make sure the furrow don't gas off, just a bit nervous as the more crap I pile in there the harder it's going to be going down 22'' rows

 

Depending on the soil type if it is compacted and the knife doesn't seal ground it will leaf burn anywhere in the field and get a bit gassy up front. I'd rather put in 28% with a knife or coulter setup than deal with that again. Thought about making some sort of Y drop setup but when side dressing earlier like we do the corn won't channel enough rain/dew down the stalk to get the liquid washed into the ground, so that idea got shelved.


At least with 28% it won't have to be very deep to keep it all from disappearing into the air, which should make the unit easier to pull as well.


Should add that liquid is quite common here, along with urea. Won't be long before one or two co-ops won't even deal with NH3 anymore so think those days are numbered here.

 

Have you looked into having semi-truck loads of 32% trucked in for farm delivery? You can always add your own water to make it 28%. I expect your winters are to cold for suppliers to store 28% over the winter without it salting out.

There used to be quite a bit of NH3 side dressed around here 30 years ago. A lot of that was on 36" rows. Your 22" may run into root pruning. Since UAN became more common the side dressing is almost always 32% now.

You may have to set up a small toolbar and give it a try.

 

I have been getting 28% shipped in for all my crops all ready but I use that storage for water also, logistics of getting it here timely can be kinda tricky because I am always at the mercy of rain. When I want to top dressing the corn I have to drop spraying in crop before a rain to hit the corn and go back and make ruts to finish up spraying for weeds in everything else. This also causes me to put on skinny tires earlier than I would like adding to the headache

This way I can make decisions based on how much rain I got rather than guessing how much I will get

So I would be freeing up spraying equipment, drop some risk and use some other equipment I already have like NH3 tanks

I am already planning this thing to have an 800 gallon tank on board so I can put down p&k if I want so if I choose the NH3 don't work like I want it to I can basically just drop the tank and roll

I put spring wheat on the headlands of some of my corn this year and I think I will continue something like that so I'm not beating down expensive corn turning on the headlands, should seed safflower on the headlands to keep some wildlife out LoL

I think you made a really good point about root pruning but maybe if I run a little earlier? Maybe? I think it would do less crop damage overall

Here is a pic of doing it with the sprayer, always looks good at the time of doing it but I seem to do way more damage than I would like

 

There are a couple guys here that do nh3 side dressing right before canopy and it seems.to work for them. We have been putting dry on for the last.couple years. This year we had more leaf burn this year than other years.

 

I'm amazed you can grow corn with that much trash. Here it would be knee high by August 1st if I tried that. I would be skeptical if you will see a benefit over spring applied in an area with as short a season as you and a drier climate.

 

Our season is short, I'll give ya that but it's not always dry.

I hate spring aplication and if I can avoid it I will, we usually get super wet when the crop gets in the ground with water standing everywhere but we can also be stupid dry like this year so if it's not worth adding nitrogen I won't

 

Here is a pic of that corn June 6th, should be poking in it this week to see if it's any good. This is 85 day corn

 

And so my project of a NH3 side dresser begins, this thing is cleaning up very nice and should make a great tool bar!

 

I'm not trying to rain on your parade or anything, but I'm having trouble visualizing how this is going to work. Are you going to try to pull it through the field as-is? I'm willing to bet the transport wheels don't follow any kind of row spacing, and the way it lifts and folds would make dragging around an ammonia tank problematic.

Keep us posted, I want to see how this goes.

 

Oh no worries, there will be plenty more cutting and welding, it will actually stand up too, the draw bar will be shortened. It's going to soon be a completely bare frame

 

nh3 is a great side dress product has its challenges but its about the cheapest form of N a guy can get. some guys have tried 60 inch spacing but have come back to 30 inch spacing.

side dressing N is a lot more efficient then ahead of planter. you put it down ahead of planter then get a 2 week delay all that water takes some of the N away, or you cant put corn in the field and now you spread a bunch of N for a crop that wont need it.

or its bone dry and the N just moves up and away.

either way by the time the corn needs its first boost of N around v5 not much is left. come ear fill time when corn really needs N where is the N.

side dress small corn so the N is there, come back later with the rest of the N so big corn can have it.

 

I run the Yetter 2987 Magnums units. I have 17 mounted on a 40' Hawkins bar on 30" rows. We were concerned about sealing NH3 in the wet conditions we had in the spring of 2010. That's when we convert our Hawkins bar from knives to the Yetter units. They seal very well in our soils when on the wet side. Search youtube for videos.

What are you planning to mount on your rod weeder bar?

 

I am thinking the Magnum is the way to go, still looking as there is lots out there.

I have a set of Coulter banders, made by Midwest Ag and perfected by me that worked pretty good on a concord drill but since it's not being followed by sweeps throwing dirt I will have to put closing wheels on, hence why I am exploring options.

I do have one plan of a disc/knife opener floating in my head that would be especially neat because it would be an independent opener so some day when it's all dialed in I could have a section control system that would also lift the openers

One thing that makes this bar appealing to me is that it perfectly fits 5 rows in the middle, (my planter is 6 row in the center). The hinge points all come out perfectly.

The depth wheel assemblies are bolted on and hopefully I can make use of them because they are a sweet design

 

I was curious, should I make a thread just for building this?

Hit the like button if ya think so, if not just tell me and I'll leave it here

Thanks guys!

 

By the way Khigerd do you know if there is a recommended weight them Magnums should have per opener? I'm kinda curious if or how I will weight this thing up. I will probably have around 80# per opener not doing anything. That going on thirties

 

http://www.thecombineforum.com/foru.../forums/64-fabrication-diy-repair/284498-scrap-iron-biuld-nh3-side-dresser.html

For someone's reference 10 years down the road doing a Google search

 

Not sure you need much added weight. The unit itself less closing wheel weighs 260 lbs. With the disc at a 5 degree angle, unless your ground is really hard, I don't think it would be a problem. I've not seen anything about recommended weight per row. My Hawkins bar is a double 7" X 7" bar so I'm sure I'm overkill.

Part of the beauty of the 2987 is you can run what ever fertilizer you want with them, liquid, dry, or NH3, or a combination. I run NH3 and 10-34-0.

 

Not sure you need much added weight. The unit itself less closing wheel weighs 260 lbs. With the disc at a 5 degree angle, unless your ground is really hard, I don't think it would be a problem. I've not seen anything about recommended weight per row. My Hawkins bar is a double 7" X 7" bar so I'm sure I'm overkill.

260#! Holy balls!

This thing I'm using has a 4x4 frame at a 1/4" thick. It's probably a fourth the weight of what you got. I think it's pretty strong but at 260# per opener I am going to have to think a little harder on how it folds and will probably have to add another hinge point on it to beef it up some more.

How do they pull? I am hoping I can pull it with my 7240 witch I know would be cake with the openers I have but I am more speed limited. Witch I probably can't go all that fast anyways, following them twin rows will keep me on my toes a bit.

 

Here's my setup

 

Sweet looking outfit! Love the Agco too!


I want to go with 23 openers. I want to go on 30" centers. Wouldn't worry about it too much but I think it's best for the twin row. Getting a long ways away from the furthest row.

I think the way the 7240 is set up right now it's about 225 hp. Planning on pulling just one 1450 tank and running about 5mph. 60 ft should cover the ground all on its own. The mid rows on the concord I couldn't even tell when I added them but I bet a single disc takes 3x the power.

How deep are you running them things? I normally run everything about 3-1/2 to 4" deep. Often wonder if it needs to be that deep as it seems it really has to be dry for my equipment to ever smoke I guess

 

How deep are you running them things? I normally run everything about 3-1/2 to 4" deep.

That's how deep I'm running.

 

Ive wanted to try this on a row crop cultivator frame and cultivat at the same time. just 12 rows. Also thought of urea side dressing just because its easier for me to store and could use a old open station tractor if i want.